Apple iOS leading among corporate users, Android deemed most risky

A new study on the use of mobile devices in corporate environments shows Apple's iOS overtaking RIM's BlackBerry in popularity, while third place Android is described as the "most risky" mobile platform in terms of security problems.

The report, published by security firm Check Point, surveyed 768 IT professionals in the US, Canada, UK, Germany and Japan.

It described "extensive use" of mobile devices in corporate networks, noting that 89 percent of sites now support the use of devices such as smartphones and tablets.

The use of employee's personal devices on corporate networks is also growing, with, on average, 65 percent of companies surveyed officially allowing access to their employee's personally owned devices in addition to company-owned hardware.

Apple takes RIM's corporate crown

Apple's iOS accounted for 30 percent of mobile devices in use on corporate networks, narrowly beating RIM's BlackBerry devices at 29 percent. Third place Android represented 21 percent of users, just ahead of Windows Mobile/Windows Phone, which accounted for 18 percent.

In terms of security risks, however, Android was cited being the worst, with 43 percent calling out Google's mobile platform. Apple's iOS was deemed a security risk by 36 percent, while RIM's BlackBerry faired best with 22 percent ranking it a security risk.

Of all respondents, 71 percent agreed that the use of mobile devices in general were a contributing factor to the number of security incidents their organizations were facing. The leading cause for security concerns among mobile device use related to a lack of employee awareness.

Careless actions by employees were seen as being roughly three times as dangerous as the activity of "hackers," with 72 percent saying that employee errors posed a greater security threat to organizations than outside attacks.

However, other security risk factors related to platform itself, including insecure WiFi networking and web browsing, downloading of apps corrupted by malware, and a lack of security patches from service providers.

I've been using iOS for years, but just got a kindle fire (built on android), and you really can feel the difference in stability and security. Amazon has an official (but extremely limited) app store, so to find a larger selection of apps to install you have to search in the wild, google etc, and, truthfully, anything can be junk or a virus or something harmful, it's really impossible to know. It's not like on a PC where most everything you find is trusted and you have full control and virus protection.. I feel like the potential to exploit android or for users to mess up their devices is a real issue. It's only a matter of time before hackers and whatever start hitting phones with viruses and malware, and Android will certainly be the easiest target.

Any employees that worked for me would immediately be fired if they tried to conduct any official company business using their Android phone, as those employees would be deemed incompetent fools who are introducing severe security risks to the firm.

Android disgusts me and so do Fandroids. Can you believe that AT&T had the nerve to send me a physical letter offering me two free Android phones last week?

Any employees that worked for me would immediately be fired if they tried to conduct any official company business using their Android phone, as those employees would be deemed incompetent fools who are introducing severe security risks to the firm.

Android disgusts me and so do Fandroids. Can you believe that AT&T had the nerve to send me a physical letter offering me two free Android phones last week?

It seems like the Android that the NSA is using is a modified version and different than what everybody else has. And yeah, of course Android companies are using Android. I don't think too highly of either Google or Samsung.

It seems like the Android that the NSA is using is a modified version and different than what everybody else has. And yeah, of course Android companies are using Android. I don't think too highly of either Google or Samsung.

Samsung makes most of the internal parts used in apple products. Apple is trying to switch over to LG and other manufacturers but they cant deliver like Samsung.

Samsung makes most of the internal parts used in apple products. Apple is trying to switch over to LG and other manufacturers but they cant deliver like Samsung.

There is no doubt Samsung is the best component manufacturer. Just like there is no doubt Google is the best search and maps option, Office is the best productivity option, and Amazon is the best shopping option. However, I do not want devices completely made by these companies. Apple is the one and only company that has perfected putting the whole package together, using other companies' pieces when needed.

There is no doubt Samsung is the best component manufacturer. Just like there is no doubt Google is the best search and maps option, Office is the best productivity option, and Amazon is the best shopping option. However, I do not want devices completely made by these companies. Apple is the one and only company that has perfected putting the whole package together, using other companies' pieces when needed.

Even the Woz says Android is better... but he still recommends iOS for some reason.

Woz said in some ways Android's voice command works better, in that it doesn't have to interact with Apple's servers the way Siri does for all it's commands. That's not a blanket 'Android is better' statement.

I agree with him in that regard. I don't understand why Siri must have be able to connect to their servers to play a Beatles song on my iPhone. But since Siri is only in beta, maybe that's something that might be adjusted at a later point in time.

Any employees that worked for me would immediately be fired if they tried to conduct any official company business using their Android phone, as those employees would be deemed incompetent fools who are introducing severe security risks to the firm.

US Government

Samsung is the 2nd manufacturer to receive the US Government's stamp of approval.

iOS devices are heavily used by the US government. From what I have seen anecdotally, far more so than Android devices. I have not personally seen a federal employee with a government issued Android, but I have seen many with iOS. In fact, iOS is the only other government issued mobile device I have seen myself besides BB.

Any employees that worked for me would immediately be fired if they tried to conduct any official company business using their Android phone, as those employees would be deemed incompetent fools who are introducing severe security risks to the firm.

Android disgusts me and so do Fandroids. Can you believe that AT&T had the nerve to send me a physical letter offering me two free Android phones last week?

I'm sure they would welcome the dismissal as working for such a buffoon would no doubt be enough to drive anyone crazy.

You want to know the type of person I fire? Morons like you who don't get their work done because they're too busy playing on their phone or complaining about products they don't own and clearly don't want to own.

In fact, if you were working for me, I'd be embarrassed and in fear for my own job for ever hiring such an imbecile.